"Mulholland Drive" Named Best Film of the Decade

By our guest blogger, Hillary Weston

To my grand delight, the Los Angeles Film Critic's Society has named David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive "the best film of the decade. It was a close race, with "There Will Be Blood," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Brokeback Mountain" and "No Country for Old Men" following behind.

Upon hearing this news, I felt like a bit of my soul had been validated. "Mulholland Drive" was my first Lynch film and ever since I sat down on my couch and began my drive into Lynchian cinema, I have been obsessed. He has an otherworldly quality about him that is surreal and cinematically brilliant, but still translatable and relevant to modern society--it's this that makes him such an amazing auteur.

Lynch pitched "Mulholland Drive" first as a television show but, after failing to get the greenlight from numerous stations, he decided to turn the pilot into a full-length feature film. While film has confused viewers and critics alike since its release and the fragmented storyline tends to drive some people away, what is important is not the story line itself but the creation and destruction of the characters the film represents, and the dreamlike quality that stems from Lynch's subconscious.

"Mulholland Drive" also offers a gothic look at "The Hollywood Dream" and how it is idealized and glossed over but underneath lurks a morbid, sordid world of death and decay. The problem with this film is that people tend to overanalyze it, much like most of Lynch's other works, which is exactly the opposite of what he intends. He wants the viewer to take the film for what it is, appreciate each moment of the experience and bathe in that rather than try to piece together a coherent narrative that most likely isn't even there.

We haven't seen Lynch put out a full-length feature like the works of his past since 2006's "Inland Empire," which is depressing. With some of the big-budget, mind-numbing films that are being produced today, it would be fantastic to see another cerebral, life-changing film from Lynch. I am hoping we'll be able to take a trip back into his mind sometime soon but as if now, I am left to wonder if those days are over.